You know what you should do to run a successful referral marketing campaign. But what shouldn't you do? Here are five of the biggest mistakes of referral marketing and tips for avoiding them.

Failure to Plan. Just as with any other aspect of your business, your referral marketing won't get the best results unless you strategize before leaping in. Consider who you're targeting, how to best reach these customers, and how your referral marketing strategy supports your overall business goals.

Weak Incentives. A cheesy, insulting offer may irritate people rather than motivating them. Giveaways, offers, and other ...

Referral
marketing is the art of turning your customers into becoming your most zealous
promoters by offering them the right kind of incentives, rewards and discounts.
People are likely to buy a product or hire a service if it has been recommended
to them by someone they know and trust. A great referral program is one that
not only encourages buyers to become promoters of the business, but also makes
them willing to spend more money and buy more of your products or service.

Referral
marketing is really a very simple marketing strategy. If your customers like
your product or service, naturally you would expect them to recommend you to
their family or friends – perhaps there’s someone they know who requires a
product or a service such as the one you sell.

But that
rarely happens, unless a customer is someone who knows you well, or is a big
supporter, they are unlikely to take it upon themselves to promote your
business to other people, of their own accord. For example, a customer might
ask you – “What’s in it for me, why ...

When you
look at incredibly successful companies such as Uber, Dropbox and Airbnb, it is
so easy to forget that they were once obscure startups without any following or
revenue to talk about. How did these companies become the force they are today?

Two words –
referral marketing. Referral marketing is a strategy that really works and it
is something you need to use in your business. Let’s analyze the referral
campaigns used by Uber, Dropbox and Airbnb and find out if there are any
lessons to be learned from them.

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7 Terms You Should Know Before Setting Up Your First Online Referral Program

Creating an online referral program seems fairly straightforward. Once it's launched, however, it's out of your hands, and you may have to learn fast in order to keep your customers happy. Before launching your program, make sure you know what you're doing! A great place to start? Make sure you're familiar with these 7 key terms before setting up your online referral program.

Referrer: The customer who refers your products or services--that is, the existing customer who is benefiting from your referral program ...

If you're thinking about setting up an online referral program, the first critical step in ensuring your success is defining exactly what an online referral program is. Understanding the ins and outs of the concept will help you create a referral program that will work perfectly for your business. If you're ready to dive into referral marketing, this is the place to start.

An online referral program is a program that uses your existing customers to help spread the word about your business. Chances are, you have a number of happy customers who have used your business several ...

French author Andre Maurios once said "Business is a combination of war and sport." He was absolutely right. Your marketing strategy has to be capable of surviving on the battlefield of your industry... and thanks to the internet and the boom of social media - that playing field is larger than ever before. This is why your growth marketing campaigns must be even smarter, even better than the rest. Scholars have spent decades pulling these very lessons from the works of Sun Tzu's The Art of War and his words have been credited by everyone from presidential hopeful Donald Trump ...

Referral marketing is a great strategy for many businesses. It allows you to use your existing clients to generate future business, building their loyalty and increasing your customer base at the same time. Unfortunately, many referral marketing programs are poorly designed. They end up underutilized, ineffective, or simply failing altogether. Avoiding some of the biggest no-nos of referral marketing, however, will help you build a program that will work for everyone involved.

Mistake 1: Making the referral process difficult or hard to find. Ideally, you want your referral program to be easy for ...

Is your referral campaign dragging a bit? Looking to add energy, excitement and more participants? Below is our Top 10 Referral Campaign Incentives aimed to do just that. (From least to most expensive)

Theater or Movie Theater Passes Who doesn't like to go out and be entertained? These will be sure to make winners smile! (And give more referrals!)

Gift Cards to Coffee/Yogurt/Smoothie retailers (Starbucks, Jamba Juice, Pinkberry) Many people enjoy an occasional (or more than occasional!) visit to these businesses, and are more likely to give referrals to obtain gift cards ...